


Home Economics

by Aeneid



Series: OkiKagu Week 2015 [2]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Crafts, F/M, Jealousy, OkiKagu Week 2015, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-19 22:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4762745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeneid/pseuds/Aeneid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tokugawa Soyo and Imai Nobume decided to crash in at Okita Sougo’s flat to do some home economics project.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Economics

**Author's Note:**

> If Kagura is Xiahou Dun, then Tokugawa Soyo is Zhuge Liang, and Imai Nobume is Jiang Wan.
> 
> One-sided SabuNobu included.

* * *

He stifled the urge to yawn as, for the sixth straight day, he had been forced along with the princess and Imai Nobume, vice-chief of the Mimawarigumi to go,  _of all the things_ ,  _shopping_.

… Not that he had anything against that kind of pastime, but for him to be dragged around by two women on the basis of him being ‘male’ and ‘having an eye for gifts that are elite enough despite his humble background’, he doubted that it was really for that reason that they had brought him along for this shopping trip.

6 days straight of going around the stores, and they still couldn’t pick out a gift?

Something was up, and he had a bad feeling about it.

“What about a pocket watch?” asked the princess, who then turned to her female guardian.

Imai shook her head in response. “… Isaburou already has one. I don’t think he needs another one…”

Why was he stuck shopping with these two for Sasaki Isaburou’s birthday present, which was a month away?

He said his piece days ago, about them buying supplies so that they could make something themselves, but did they even listen?

_Of course not._

The princess was very,  _very_  stubborn when it came to getting what she wanted, and he had no choice but to indulge her whims… even if he was on the verge of sneaking away from both her and Imai and going back to his flat to sleep.

“What do you think, Okita-san?”

_… Here we go again._

“… Just get him something hand-made.” Seriously, he didn’t care if the hand-made item could be eaten or not, as long as they could finally decide what to give the chief of the Mimawarigumi. Admittedly, he had to admire Sasaki, as two of the women in his life were taking the present buying seriously.

“Hand-made?” echoed Imai Nobume, acting as if she had not heard the suggestion he gave days ago.

What the hell was up with these two? Were they deliberately ignoring him when he was giving them advice on what to give the older man?

“You know… like a  _scarf_. Or even hand-made donuts.” He figured that the older man had developed a sweet tooth after hanging out with Imai all these years.

As expected, the former assassin shook her head. “… I don’t know how to bake. Or even knit.”

Bless the princess for her response. “Good idea! I can knit a scarf for Sasaki-dono, and you can bake him donuts, Nobume-san!”

“Princess, we don’t have an oven at the estate.” Imai told the younger girl, who then frowned…

… then looked at Okita with a knowing glint in her eyes in a split second.

Six hours later, he found himself cleaning up the mess that the two women had left both in his kitchen and in his living room. Imai had lived up to her past as an assassin as she mercilessly gone through his kitchen in her quest to bake the most perfect donuts for her Isaburou (he had actually hoped that she did not spike the donuts with a love potion, or something similar). Hours later, when she was done test baking (and eating, though it seemed that she was unsuccessful, as she threw all of the baked donuts after one bite, citing that ‘it was not fit for human nor animal consumption’), she left the place looking like a tornado had zipped by… and obviously, he was left to clean the mess.

The princess, on the other hand, had at least been less sadistic, as she left the yarns, needles, and knitting books on the floor, only causing him to trip and hit his head on the tatami after he was done cleaning the kitchen.

Imai’s work though… how was it even possible for the dough to reach the ceiling?!

Still dizzy from the sudden fall, he had not noticed that someone came in, only realizing it when he saw a pair of feet before him. As he slowly looked up, he took note that the person standing before him was wearing familiar red-colored pants.

Shaking his head so that he would be able to focus, he looked up.

“… China?”

* * *

She should  _not_  be feeling like this but…

For her to be told that  _he_  was hanging out with her best friend and her best friend’s female bodyguard-slash-friend (the sadism that ran in their blood was the thing that bound all three of them together) for more than three hours… and in his flat even…

Oh, she had no doubts about  _any of them_ …

… Just that, she  _had_  to stake her claim, or else, she would be really,  _really_  pissed if she didn’t go for it.

“Sougo.” She forced a smile on her face, her foul mood refusing to dissipate, despite telling herself that she shouldn’t even be feeling this way towards her friends. “Good evening.”

“… So formal.” He remarked drily. “What brings you here?”

Immediately, her mood turned foul. “… Is it a problem if a wife visits her husband anytime she wants?”

“Not really, no. Just that…” he let out a sigh. “I’m exhausted.”

It really shouldn’t happen, but alarm bells rang into her head. Before she could even stop herself, she asked, “Oh? Did it have something to do with Soyo-chan and Nobutasu?”

“… Those two’s antics exhausted me today—”

_That. Was. It._

Something had snapped inside of her, and before she knew it, she had sent Okita, still partially clad in his Shinsengumi uniform (he had taken off his coat), flat on his back by tackling him, with her legs positioned on both sides of his torso as she straddled him. Kagura realized that she might have looked rather intimidating, for she saw the fear in his eyes when he asked, “… Are you okay, China? You’ve been acting weird since you got here.”

What the hell was wrong with her today indeed.

She did not respond to his question; instead, she lowered her head and pressed her lips against his, giving him an open mouth kiss while he responded back, tucking her long hair behind her ear with his left hand in the process. Immediately, his right hand curved against her nape, pulling her closer while his left arm snaked around her waist, urging her to press her body against his.

_I shouldn’t let him._

When she left his hands on the waistband of her pants, she pulled away immediately.

“China…?”

“This is your punishment.” She grabbed his cravat, which was hanging loose from the collar of his dress shirt, and hastily tied his wrists together before smirking smugly at his puzzled expression. “And you’d better be good… or I won’t let you do whatever you want.”

* * *

_… What the hell did I do?!_

Either China had gotten the wrong idea, or she was playing a game that he was supposed to be part of, but had forgotten to tell him the role he was supposed to play. Frankly, he had no idea what was running on her mind, though he suspected that something had set her off… and whatever it was, she was pouring all of her anger at  _him_.

“… Can I just ask what made you suddenly so angry that you broke the zipper of my pants?” it was the third zipper for the past three months that she broke because of her eagerness to, in her own words, ‘fuck him senseless’, and it was a good thing that no one knew that they were married… or he’d have to suffer through knowing looks from  _everyone_  in the police force when they find out from their tailor that China was breaking the pants of his zipper.

“… You should know.” was all she said, which made him roll his eyes in response.

“I’m not a mind-reader, China.” He deadpanned. “Do enlighten me.”

For a second, he saw hesitation flicker in her eyes before it disappeared. The hesitation was then replaced by anger, while the smug expression disappeared, and was replaced by a frown. Her aura emitted something rather deadly, and he wondered what the hell he did to make her feel like this.

“For the past few days, you’ve been spending an awful lot of time with Soyo-chan and Nobutasu.”

“What about it?” he asked in a neutral tone. It was best not to rile her up. “Is there a problem?”

“I  _heard_  they spent the whole afternoon  _here_.” At this, her azure eyes narrowed into slits. “You even said that they exhausted you.”

“… They did.” Upon seeing her aura turning deadly in a split second, he quickly added, “But not in the way you’re thinking, you idiot.” She tied up his wrists, but not his hands, which did not stop him from flicking her forehead, though it looked awkward, as he had to raise both his hands to do the action.

In turn, she yelped from the contact.

“… Jealous,  _dear wife_?” a smirked tugged his lips.

She was quick to deny his accusation. “I-I am not!”

“They went here because they had this asinine idea of using  _our_   _kitchen_  and  _our living room_  for whatever the hell it is that they’re planning for Sasaki’s birthday because  _they know_  they don’t have clean up after.” He flickered her forehead again. “And Imai actually had the gall to leave the kitchen as messy as possible because  _she knew I was going to clean it up when she was done_.

“As for the princess, her leaving her knitting items on the floor caused  _me_  to bang my head against the  _tatami_  because I tripped over those yarns and knitting needles.” Now that he was finally talking to someone about the shit he had to go through earlier, he felt a bit better now.

“Now do you get me?”

She shook her head. “… I’m still pissed because they get to spend more time with you than me. They’ve been spending time with you for  _six_   _days_.”

He didn’t realize that she was counting the days as well, but he figured that she would, given that he had the right to know who he was with and where they were at. “You could solve that problem by finally moving in.” he reminded her.

“But I… I-I still can’t cook.” She said it so quietly that he struggled to hear her words. “I-I can’t cook breakfast for you—”

He rolled his eyes. “Who cares about that—”

“But you need to eat—” she argued.

“That’s what convenience stores and lunch box stores are for.” [1] He said exasperatedly. “You  _can_  stay here and still learn to cook. At least the boss won’t be yelling at you for ruining his kitchen, right? And it’s at my expense now, not the boss’.”

“… Yeah, because if I move in, it’s gonna be you who’s gonna yell at me when I mess it up.” The female Amanto muttered.

His scarlet-colored eyes suddenly glistened. “Oh? Are you sure that I’ll be really doing that?” at her frown, he added, “What if it’s the other way around, China? What if I make you do all the yelling instead?”

Upon seeing her blush, he knew he made his point.

“So, are you gonna move in or not? You know they’ll keep using  _our kitchen_  and  _our living room_  for their home economics project until it’s not in constant use—”

“Fine.” She kissed him on the lips. “Give me three days.”

* * *

Tokugawa Soyo was not surprised when Okita informed her a few days later that they could not use the kitchen and the living room anymore because someone would be use it frequently for cooking practice. As soon as he had left, Soyo found herself doing a mini dance, for her plan worked.

“That took a while for Kagura-chan to take action.” She remarked during tea time with Nobume at her private estate the same day. “I was afraid that I had to start baking too.” That plan, however, was categorized as a last resort, for the princess had never set foot in a kitchen her whole life. The fear that she would burn the kitchen to the ground if she tried her hand at cooking or baking… it had basis.

“… You did all that just so the Yorozuya girl would finally move in with that guy?” at the nod, Nobume tilted her head in confusion. “But why?”

At this, Soyo chuckled. “Sometimes, you need to force people into finally acting upon what they really feel. Soon, you’ll have to do that too, Nobume-san.”

Unsurprisingly, the older girl’s eyes were downcast, as if contemplating about what was just said to her. The raven-haired girl was aware of the reason behind the reaction; despite Sasaki-dono forgiving Nobume for what she did, the older man saw and treated her like the daughter he never had.

… Which, of course, did not sit well with the navy-haired woman, for her feelings towards the older man was that of a young woman who had romantic feelings for someone. No matter how many times she had tried to make the chief of the Mimawarigumi realize that she saw him as a potential lover, it was not working.  _At all_.

While the plan worked for the other couple, it did not work for Nobume and Isaburou.

With this, Tokugawa Soyo vowed to make it work… even if she has to take rather drastic measures to achieve her goal.

She had to.

She was not called a strategist for nothing.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> [1] - “That’s what convenience stores and lunch box stores are for.” - with the Japanese getting very busy with life and work and having no time to cook for themselves, especially since they live alone, they tend to either eat out or they buy their meals from convenience stores or lunch box stores (called ‘bentouya-san’).


End file.
